Health Coaching Certificate Program

What will you do as a Certified Health Coach?

A health coach partners with individuals through the process of behavior change. This is done through support in setting goals, unearthing values, strengths, and motivations, and encouraging the development of sustainable healthy behaviors and attitudes.

Health coaches are credentialed members of the healthcare industry who have additional training in the science of health behavior change. Coaches combine their medical expertise with coaching skills to manage a variety of chronic medical conditions (metabolic syndrome, heart disease, pain, etc.).

Whether you work as an independent Health Coach or as a provider that uses Health Coaching skills, being trained as a Health Coach can elevate the level of care you provide to patients.

Potential Job Titles for Health Coaches include:

Health Coach

Clinical Health Coach

Integrative Health Coach

Care Coordinator

Transitions Coach

Disease Management Nurse

Where Will You Practice?

The Certified Health Coach has many practice settings from which to choose. These include but are not limited to:

Medical Offices

Integrative Medicine Practices

Private Practice

Health Departments

Hospitals

Universities

Insurance companies

How Will Vanderbilt Prepare You for Practice?

The Vanderbilt School of Nursing and The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt’s certification program is a six month long program with over 75 hours of course of study. The curriculum emphasizes acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to provide health coaching for patients at each stage along the health spectrum, from wellness to those managing chronic illness and disease. This course also has a heavy emphasis on self-care and self-awareness, which is the core of the health coaching experience. The program is offered in a modified distance format with two on-campus intensives. The Health Coaching Certificate Program requires a significant amount of out-of-classroom study time and group work. In earning your certification in Health Coaching, your educational experience will include:

Web based and onsite modules

Foundations in Health Coaching

Patient Centered Approach

Behavior Change Theory and Application

Health Coaching Skills & Tools

Health Coaching Application

Disease Specific Coaching

Mindfulness

Motivational Interviewing

Positive Psychology

Scope of Practice, Referrals, and Ethics

Health Coaching Research

Intensive health coaching practicum

Weekly telephonic coaching sessions with peers

Onsite patient simulation lab

Mentoring

Personal engagement in the health change process

Experiential work with Positive Psychology & Mindfulness

Personal change project

Meet our Program Directors

Linda Manning, PhD

Linda Manning, Ph.D. is a Health Psychologist at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt , Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Human Development Counseling at Vanderbilt University. She is also a Certified Professional Health Coach and teaches Health Coaching to Professionals and students in Health Care. She has practiced and taught mindfulness for over twenty years and trains professionals in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.

Blaire Morriss, ANP-BC, RN
Blaire Morriss is a Nurse Practitioner at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt and an Instructor in Clinical Nursing at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. At OCIM, Blaire provides Integrative Health Consultations and is Clinical Leader of Health Coaching. She received her graduate degree in nursing from Vanderbilt University and completed the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in 2012. Blaire is a Certified Professional Health coach and has taught health coaching and served as a health coach in medical trials and for OCIM patients.